Where was Frandolig Point?

History Mystery

By Pam Stranahan, History Center for Aransas county

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Frandolig Point was a triangular peninsula nine miles south of the northernmost part of Live Oak Peninsula that in 1962 became known as Key Allegro.

The Frandolig name came from the family who lived there from the 1870s through the early 1900s. Franz Joseph Frandolig (1816 – 1907) was born in Austro-Hungary at a time when nationalism was on the rise in Europe. When he was nineteen, he left Europe probably to avoid military service or to seek a better life in Texas. Hannah Sara Schwander was born in Switzerland in 1836. She entered the U.S. at New Orleans after a journey from Le Havre, France in 1852. Hannah and Franz married in 1854 in Victoria County.

Frandolig was known as a horse wrangler. He broke and sold horses to General Zachary Taylor for the Mexican War (1845-48). Records show that Franz claimed 160 acres on Papalote Creek in Bee County (1858-1868). He delivered cotton to Mexico during the Civil War and served in the military under General Bee in 1861.

Later he delivered cattle to the Cushman packery that was located on what became Frandolig Point/Key Allegro. When Cushman vacated the property in 1870s, Frandolig moved his family to that location. With his family, he ran a farm, salt works and boat yard. They had an extensive fig orchard as well as a vineyard from which they sold wine by the barrel. In 1903 Franz Frandolig sold the property and moved to Port Aransas where his wife died in April of that year. Franz died in 1907 at Tarpon (now Port Aransas). They had nine children. Descendants of the Frandoligs remain in the area.

Learn more about the Frandolig family and Key Allegro at the History Center for Aransas County, 801 E. Cedar St., www.thehistorycenterforaransascounty.org The current exhibit, Key Allegro, will be showing through Nov. 17. The Center is open Mon. & Fri. 10 AM – 2 PM; Sat. 10 AM – 4 PM; and Sun. 1 – 4 PM. (361) 727-9214.